First, I’ll assume that you are not a member of a sect that demands using the King James Version (KJV) or any other particular version.  KJV recommendations.  (Unfortunately, most of these sects do not actually use the complete KJV!)

At this stage, you want to decide what your bible should contain.  Do you want a bible that contains

1. all (more) scripture, or
2. a restricted selection of scripture?

Besides editions that contain all scripture, there are editions that contain only new testament books, others containing only books from the Hebrew bible, and still others (the majority) which exclude several scriptures in a somewhat cavalier fashion.

I will assume that you intend to read the entire bible, or at least wish to have the entire bible at your disposal.  In this case, you should obtain a bible that includes the Apocrypha (or, more accurately, deutero-canonicals).  There are some sects teaching that the Apocrypha is not inspired scripture, and if you are a member of one of these sects then simply avoid reading these scriptures.  There is no other reason for avoiding the so-called Apocrypha and every reason to get a bible which includes them.  Here is a more in-depth discussion about this topic.  In my conclusion I will consider two cases:

1. You want a “complete” bible (Complete)
2. You don’t care if the Apocrypha is included or not (Minimal)

The next stage is to decide if you want a bible merely for reading and learning the text of the bible itself, or if you intend to study scripture more deeply and intensely in order to gain a greater understanding and to help you interpret the scriptures accurately.  This is the difference between a “standard” edition bible and a (scholarly) study bible.  I will refer to this as “purpose” when I make recommendations below.

Finally, you need to decide whether you want a translation that offers

1. ease of reading
2. literalness of translation
3. accuracy of translation

I separate these even though they are not necessarily mutually exclusive.  Different versions do (must) follow primarily one of these three criteria, however, and so should you when making your choice.  I will refer to this as “style” when I make recommendations below. Comparisons of “literalness” of translation between versions can be found here and here and here.

An important note:  “literal” does not equate with “accurate!”  A translation that is more literal does not equate to a translation that is more accurate.  Indeed, in any language translation, literal translation tends to result in shortcomings in the accuracy of translation.

A note about the KJV:  although excellent for its time, and including nearly the entire body of scripture, as well as marginal notes from the translators providing possible alternate translations (making it a passable study bible), the KJV uses 400-year-old English, 400-year-old scholarship (read:  they didn’t know as much as scholars today), and texts that lacked the last 400 years of archaeological discoveries.  By no means was the KJV the first English version of the bible.  It’s main advantage today is that many people use some form of the KJV, and it is often useful to use the same version as others in discussions of scripture.

Recommendations:  you can look at a fairly thorough comparison of mechanical differences between versions, but what follows are my recommendations: